
Project leader: A/Professor Jes Sammut, UNSW
Project coordinator (Vietnam): Dr Nguyen van Hao
Project summary:
Rice and shrimp have been farmed in rotation in the Mekong Delta for 40 years. Rice is farmed in the wet season when water salinity is low. Shrimp is farmed extensively and semi-intensively during the dry season when water salinity is too high to continue with rice production. Rice farming is promoted by the Government of Vietnam to ensure demand for rice is met locally and to maintain an export market. Rice production is also considered to be an important component of the sustainability of the rice–shrimp system. Increasing salinity, as a result of changing environmental conditions and catchment-wide water management, has led to rice crop losses and reduced yields in the normally productive wet season. Shrimp yields have been affected by recurrent disease outbreaks exacerbated by stocking of poor-quality post-larvae and declining pond soil and water quality. Research is already underway to test redesigned rice–shrimp farming systems and new salt-resistant rice varieties, but the mechanisms underpinning the sustainability of rice–shrimp production systems are poorly understood. Further research is required on key factors, mechanisms and constraints that influence the productivity of new rice–shrimp farming systems. The research will enable scientifically-validated modifications to the farming system to increase profitability and ensure sustainable practices are promoted.
The following research questions will be addressed:
The overall aim of the project is to increase yields and profitability of rice–shrimp production systems, particularly of new designs, in the Mekong Delta and ensure these systems can adapt to environmental change and its effect on pond soil and water quality.
The specific research objectives are:
A framework (Bayesian belief network; BBN) that captures the management and environmental factors that affect rice–shrimp productivity at different geographical scales
Funding: 1,519,566 from ACIAR; Total from all sources: $4,420,733
List of personnel:
Project Partners:
An ACIAR-funded aquaculture project was launched on 18-19 August 2010 in Goroka in the Eastern Highlands of PNG to develop fish farming packages based on scientifically-validated methods.
Throughout the Asia-Pacific, aquaculture has been promoted as a means of improving income and food security for rural communities.
In Papua New Guinea, aquaculture is an important source of protein for the rural majority of the population, contributing food security and income generation.